Random musings on life, society, and politics

“We’re in the midst of some sort of nightmare,” Harvey said. “It’s like we’re lost in a dark, spooky maze.”

“I think we may have entered a parallel universe,” James commented. “I have to admit that I’m a bit scared.”

“We are in a parallel world,” Harvey said. “We just have to keep going in order to find the right corridor. Then we can pick up some tokens to buy some weapons in case we run into any strange beings.”

“Yeah, I know how it works,” James said. “But which way should we go? And should we stick together or separate?”

“How the hell do I know?” Harvey responded. “This is my first time at this level, too, you know.”

“I’m kinda thinking we should stick together,” James said. “That way, if we encounter something unusual, we can deal with whatever it is together. Strength in numbers, right?”

“I disagree,” Harvey said. “If we take different doorways, we can collect more tokens and buy more weapons.”

“But how will we find each other?” James asked. “As you said, this place is a fucking maze.”

“We can hit pause and get our bearings by looking at the overview page,” Harvey said.

“But won’t that cost a lot of tokens?” James asked.

Harvey began to get tired of James’ attitude. “Look, James,” he said. “We’ve gotten to this level by doing things my way. If you want to quit now, just take off your headset.”

“Okay Fine,” James reluctantly said. “We’ll do it your way.”

“I’m going straight at the next archway. You take the corridor to the right,” Harvey instructed.

The two men split up, but before long Harvey heard a bloodcurdling scream coming from somewhere else in the maze. It sounded so real that Harvey tore off his headset and looked at James, who was sitting next to him on the sofa. He was passed out cold.

Harvey reached over to James and started to shake him. “Are you okay?”

James’ eyes fluttered open. He looked around, relieved to be alive and back in the real world. “Wow, I’m still alive,” he said, “This virtual reality game is sick, dude.”

This “twofer” was written for this week’s Thursday Photo Prompt from Sue Vincent and for today’s one-word prompt, “parallel.” I saw the movie “Ready Player One” yesterday, and that, along with Sue’s picture, served as my inspiration for this post.